Richard Marx Selling ‘Magnificent’ Lakeside Estate for $8.9 Million

Richard Marx and his ex-wife, actress Cynthia Rhodes, have again slashed the price of their nearly 30,000-square-foot home outside of Chicago — by more than half. Now asking $8.9 million for the Lake Bluff mansion, the former couple originally listed it for $18 million in October 2014.

Over the past four years, they reduced the price on five occasions. Andra O'Neill at @properties holds the listing for the seven-bedroom, nine bathroom (and six half-bath) property. The Marxes purchased it in 1997 for $3.1 million and added a detached 8,000-square-foot recording studio, according to Crain's.

Located just north of Chicago near his childhood home of Highland Park, the Georgian-style abode was designed by society architect David Adler. It sits atop five acres and offers more than 400 feet of lakefront, which made it a prime backdrop for Robert Altman's 1977 film A Wedding that costarred Carol Burnett and Mia Farrow.

Inside, the ornate home offers floor-to-ceiling windows with stunning views,19 fireplaces and a gourmet kitchen intended for many cooks, an office, a theater, an exercise room, men's and women's formal dressing rooms, a bar, brick patios and a fire pit. The recording studio has its own sitting room, kitchen and two bedrooms, while the master suite includes a sitting room, an enormous walk-in closet and a soaking Jacuzzi tub.

The Marxes put the house on the market several months after announcing their divorce. They met while Marx was working on the soundtrack for the 1983 movie Staying Alive, in which Rhodes had a role, and were married for 25 years before they split.